How to save a world
by braindamage-1990
Summary: Armageddon and Spiderman 2 crossover. A gigantic meteor is racing towards earth and threatens to eradicate mankind and a few selected people are choosen to save earth from disaster. Doctor Otto Octavius is one of them and so is Harry Stamper.
1. Let's get him!

05.13 pm Central time, Houston, Texas

Dan Truman paced nervously around the large room. He had not been able to stand still since a phone call woke him up two days ago. He looked around and watched the men and women in the room working. The room was huge, probably 55ft in width and 30ft in length with a high ceiling. Fifty work stations were arranged in two rows with five computers in one line. The people at the computers faced the back of the room; each line was sitting on a step that was about one foot lower than the last one so nobody's view was blocked by the person in front of him. Truman walked up and down the stairs between the rows, hoping for something to happen.

"I think I got something", a man on the other side of the room said.

Truman stopped immediately and turned in the direction the voice came from.

"You think?" He asked.

"Um, well, I am pretty sure I found him. The scans showed a large amount of metal in and around his body."

"How much metal?"

"About 45."

"Good enough. Put it on the large screen."

At this command the blank wall on the end of the room first turned black and after a few seconds showed a crowded street in birds-eye-view. A lot of cars moved slowly street the two different directions. All people on the sidewalk seemed to be in a hurry, they moved a lot faster then the cars. It was rush hour in New York.

"Where is he?"

A small square with a white outline appeared in the upper right corner on the screen. Zooming in on the square several people became visible. A mother hurried along the street dragging her child on one hand behind her, a business man with the latest newspaper tried to avoid crashing into people while reading at the same time, two young women chartered. Normal people doing their business during the day, only one person didn't seem to fit in, a large man standing alone on the sidewalk, the people around him seemed to avoid him.

"Can you go closer?"

The camera focused on the man and zoomed in on him till the image of the man filled the whole screen. He had brown hair and was wearing a long worn trench coat that had an undefined color of something between black, brown and green. He was wearing sunglasses.

"What do you think?" Truman said into the room not addressing anyone in particular.

"I think it's him", a woman behind him answered. "Me too", a man to his right agreed. He looked around and saw several people nod in silent agreement.

"Okay! Let's get him!" He turned around and started walking towards the door to leave the room, his hand already on the doorknob he turned his head back to the screen and took a last look at the man, who had no idea that Truman was watching him.  
_Maybe we have at least some luck today._ He opened the door sighing and walked out of the room.

09.34 pm Eastern Time Manhattan, New York City

This had not been a good day for Otto Octavius. It had began this morning when he had woken up and looked directly in the face of a rat sitting next to his head starring at him. He had hardly been able suppress a scream. His hideout had become rat infested, again. Then around noon a gang of thieves had decided to use the warehouse he had been hiding in as theirs. He had figured they would not leave any time soon and the only way to get them out any earlier had been to reveal himself and kill or frighten them, but neither of it had been a good option and so he had just decided to leave. He now did not even have a place to sleep at night and, to make it one of the worst days of his life(?) several newspapers, the Daily Bugle was one of them, stated that the police suspected him of committing murder on some guy downtown, which he had not done, of course. He had not even been near downtown the last week, but there was no way of proving them wrong without turning himself in and that was the last thing he needed today.

And now he stumbled down the street with a half-empty vodka bottle in his right hand, slightly drunk. People moved out of his way to avoid crashing into him. Walking straight was not exactly one of his best exercises even when he was sober, but he guessed that everybody would have problems with it when 116 pounds of metal were attached to their back. And that was another reason why he was drinking, the actuators. Four metal arms with artificial intelligence that had been fused to his spine in an accident several months ago and since the inhibitor chip that had been created to keep the AI out of his mind had been destroyed in said accident, they had started to talk to him, what had brought him more than ones close to the border between sanity and insanity.

"My life is a living hell!" Otto sighed. He slowly walked to the nearest wall and leaned against it. He was roving around the city all day long having no place to stay anymore and his feet hurt. He took a sip from the bottle, feeling only slightly better. The actuators under his coat moved nervously, he had kept them still the whole time, but they were curious and wanted to see everything what happened around them. The few things they saw through their hosts eyes was not enough for them. One peeked out from under Otto's coat and looked around; its red light glowed bright in the dark street. Before Otto could notice, it was soon joined by three more.

"Get back under my coat", Otto said aloud. "You will be noticed!" He was too drunk to notice that it looked like he was talking to himself for the people around him.

**There is so much to see.  
So many people.  
They look at us.  
Why are they looking at us?**

Otto sighed. His life has become even worse when he discovered that the AI was evolving and the actuators were slowly developing personalities.

Right at that moment a black van pulled to the curb and two men in black suits climbed out of the side of the vehicle soon followed by a third men in a grey suit. On top of the van was a big searchlight that now turned and after a few seconds it pointed at Otto.  
It was switched on and Otto felt a sharp pain in his eyes and shut them immediately, covering his face with his left hand. He was wearing dark sunglasses but the beam of the searchlight was even with shades too much for his damaged eyes, another outcome from the accident. He slowly lifted his hand from his face still blocking most of the light and squinted at the three men. The actuators tensed. They felt they no longer needed to obey his order.  
"What the - !" Otto was taken aback by this situation.  
One of the men in black suits moved to the right and started to block the pedestrians from coming any closer, the other man did the same on the left. The man in the grey suit took a step in Otto direction and just looked at him.

Otto felt exposed. If he had been sober he would have probably asked himself how they found him or what they want from him, but at his current state of mind, he just wondered why they were pointing with such a bright light at him. The man in front of him began to speak.

"Doctor Otto Octavius, I assume."

Otto did not answer, but the man already continued, he obviously did not need an answer.

"Dr. Octavius, my name is Dan Truman. I have to ask you to come with us and not to ask any questions."

Otto finally overcame his first shock and was now eyeing the man in front of him. He must have been in his late forties maybe early fifties. Besides the grey suit the man wore a white shirt with a red tie which had come loose. His hair was slowly turning grey and his face looked like he had not slept for the last week. The upper two actuators rose over his head making Otto struggle to keep his balance. He was not prepared for the sudden shift of weight and had to take a step forward in order not to fall. The two actuators now arched over his shoulders focusing on the man in front of him. The lower two kept an eye on the two men that blocked the pedestrians.

**He is not armed. **The upper two said.**  
But the other two are.  
They have guns under their jackets.**

As Dan Truman stepped out of the van he wondered if this was the right thing to do. The man in front of him was probably the most dangerous man in the world and if he did something to anger him it might be the last thing he did in his life. Truman knew that this man had killed before and he highly doubted that he would hesitate to do it again, but then you never know. Otto Octavius had kept a low profile the last month and had been hardly seen around the city, it was sheer luck they had found him so soon. Truman tried to appear as calm as he could but his hands were shaking. During the helicopter flight from Texas to New York he had been thinking of ways to accomplish the task that lay in front of him, but he had not been very successful. _How do you talk to somebody that was pronounced insane by everyone, but is probably the last hope of mankind?_ Truman was not sure how to answer that question, in fact, he was not sure about a lot of things lately, but one thing he certainly knew.  
If he did not talk to the man in front of him and convince him to come with them then ...Truman did not want to think about what happened then.  
He tried to hide his shaking hands behind his back and took a step forward facing the man in the trench coat. The two men who had also been in the van with him did their job and kept the pedestrians away so Truman could talk without interruption.

"Doctor Otto Octavius, I assume." Truman started. It was an unnecessary phrase, he already knew who the man was and so did everybody who could see him. The four artificial arms that poked out the front of the coat of the man were hard to ignore.  
He did not answer.  
"Doctor Octavius, my name is Dan Truman. I have to ask you to come with us and not to ask any questions." He had little hope that Octavius was that easy to persuade.  
Octavius still did not say anything. Then two of the actuators disappeared under the coat to reappear over their hosts shoulder only seconds later. Octavius took a step towards Truman, who felt that his nervousness slowly turned into fear, as he watched the mechanical arms rose and imagined what they were capable of doing. He had seen pictures of Octavius before but standing only about seven feet away from him was not what he had imagined. The two heads of the metal arms that were arching over Octavius' shoulders seemed to look directly at him.  
Truman could not help staring at the two red lights in the middle of each head. They frightened and fascinated him at the same time.  
Then, finally, Octavius spoke.  
"What d' you want?" He asked and Truman dropped his gaze to look at the man. Something seemed to be odd, but he could not quite explain what. Then his look fell on the bottle in Octavius' right hand and suddenly could not help asking:  
"Are you drunk?"  
From what Truman could see from his face that was partially covered with his left hand Octavius looked confused. It took him a few seconds to realize the words Truman had said. He lifted the hand with the bottle and stared at it like he saw it the first time then his head turned to Truman again.  
"Maybe?! I don't know."  
Truman was stunned. He had expected a lot of things to happen, but that was definitely not one of them. He wondered if this new situation was going to make things better or worse, he could not decide yet.

Octavius could still not think clearly, the bright light confused him. As he stared at the bottle in his hands he realized for the first time how much he had actually drunk today and it was far too much. The alcohol was doing its job, his brain was about to shut down, but luckily the actuators were not. The AI of the arms was not affected by the alcohol; they were machines after all, although they acted very human sometimes.

**Focus, Father.  
You can not think clearly.  
We'll help you to get out of this situation.  
Just do what we say.**

_Okay._ Under normal conditions Otto would not have liked to follow the orders of the AI, but right now he was just glad that they were doing the thinking for him.

**Ask why he is here.**

"Why are you here?" To his surprise the words came out of his mouth more clearly than he had thought.

"Doctor Octavius, in your current condition I highly doubt that you would understand the urgency of the issue. I just want you to come with us and I'll explain everything to you, when we are on our way."

"I am not going anywhere until you explain everything." He hissed and with a more pleasant tone he added: "And can you turn off that light please, it hurts my eyes."

Truman sighed and said nothing for a moment.  
"Doctor, I am here because we need your help, this is an issue of national safety. I have to ask you to come with me, please. This is very urgent!"

"Who is 'we'?" Octavius asked. Truman bite on his lower lip.  
"I will tell you if you come with us."

Otto tried another question. "What issue?"  
"I will tell you if you come with us." Truman repeated.  
**  
This is not leading anywhere.  
He is not going to tell us anything...  
...unless we go with them.  
We should leave now**.

"I'm gonna leave now, if you don't have anything to say." Otto started to turn and suddenly became aware of the people that were watching them. There were about a dozen people on each side of them. Some tried to come closer, but the men in the black suits hold them back. Most of them just watched.

Truman knew he was running out of time, Octavius wanted to leave and so he did the only thing he could think of. He leaped forward in an attempt to grap the mans arm but before he could even touch the cloth of the sleeve, a metal arm snapped forward and closed its claw around Truman's wrist, bruising it badly.  
"What do you think you are doing? "Octavius slowly turned towards him and looked him in the eye. At least that was what Truman thought he did, but could not say for sure, because the man's eyes were hidden behind dark lenses.  
Truman thought carefully about his next words.  
"Please, Doctor Octavius, we need you, you are the only person who can help us. This is not an everyday issue, this is much bigger and soon the whole world will know about it and soon... it will be too late. Please, this is a matter of life and death and I am talking about the big scale here, not only a few thousands...I am talking about billions, that will die if you don't help us. Please, Doctor Octavius. What do you have to loose?"  
Octavius stood silent for a moment.  
Truman was not sure what affect his little speech would have or if it would have one at all.  
Then Octavius spoke.  
"Okay, I'll come, but if I don't like what you want..."  
The mechanical arm let go of Truman's wrist and returned to its former position over his host's shoulder.  
Truman, who overheard the thread, let out a sigh of relief.  
"Thank you."


	2. Pants and vodka

**_Hi there, second chapter is up, but don't expect to it to be always this fast, I'm still working on chapter 3 and it's gonna take a while.  
_**

**_uhm...what did I want to say? Right! Read, Enjoy and click on the review button, you know you want to!!! _**

* * *

08:20 am local time, somewhere in the pacific 

Harry did not exactly know what woke him up, the screaming or the fact that someone was shaking his shoulders for several minutes now, but it did not matter, it had the same affect at the end, he was awake now and not very happy about that either.  
"What?", he grunted not making the effort in opening his eyes.  
"It's the Two, Harry, AJ's having problems", a nervous female voice somewhere on top of him said.  
"Grace, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Da- WHAT???", realizing the words the young woman had said he jerked upright making her stumble backwards.  
"I CLOSED THE TWO YESTERDAY!" Harry literally jumped off his bed and ran to the closed cabin door. "YOU ARE A DEAD MAN, AJ" He shouted already putting a hand on the handle as a small laughter behind him brought him back from his plans to kill the man called AJ and he turned around.  
"What?" he asked a little confused.  
"You might want to put on some pants or else AJ might die of laughing before you can put your hands on him."  
"Huh?" he looked down on himself and realized with a shock that he was indeed not wearing any pants. "UHH!!! CRAP!"

One minute and thirty-three seconds later a completly dressed and very angry Harry blasted out of his cabin onto the deck of the oilrig. Scanning his surroundings it took Harry less than ten seconds to locate his victim on the other side of the platform.  
"AJ!" he shouted taking a running start at the stair to the lower level.  
"YOU'RE GONNA REGET YOU WERE BORN!!" half jumping, he took three steps at once to get down as fast as he could.  
The victim AJ on the other hand did not really care about the furious man who was running towards the drilling derrick where he stood.  
He had other problems. In fact, he had exactly one problem.

AJ felt he was loosing his grip on the ventil he tried to hold. His hands were sweaty. He knew the wheel would slip throuch his hands any moment now. Sweat was running down his face an dripping off his nose and the muscels in his arms protested against the strain.  
The shouting of the man behind him, who was crossing the maze of stairs and metal bridges with a speed that was probably new world record, made it only worse.  
"A ... little...uhhh...help..please!" He managed to say.  
"AJ, YOU IDIOT!!" Harry suddenly stood behind the struggling man, his head had the color of a tomato.  
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING??"  
"Trying ...uhh ...to close ...the ...friggin' ...ventil", he groaned, breathing hard.  
His will was strong, but his body was too exhausted to hold on any longer and suddenly AJ just let go...  
Falling back on his rear he saw the black fountain of oil and mud, that emerged from the ventil, shoot straight into the air.  
Unfortuantely, everything that goes up has to come down sooner or later, in this case it was more sooner than later.  
Seconds after he fell a heavy rain of black oil poured down on Harry and AJ, covering them and everything around them immidiatly.  
Harry reacted first, he jumped forward grapping the now fast spinning wheel with both hands and tried to turn it the other way, but his hands were slippery from the oil, what made it an almost impossible task.  
"GET OFF YOUR ASS AND HELP!" He shouted, his voice shaking with rage.  
Not needed to be told twice AJ got back on his feet and also clinged onto the wheel of the ventil, what finally made it stop spinning.  
Together with their combined effort they managed to slowly turn it in the opposite direction and after several nerve-biting minutes, which seemed like hours, the continous downfall of oil and mud finally stopped.  
Both letting go of the wheel simultaneouly, Harry and AJ dropped down to the oil-covered floor.  
"You-..." Harry started, but was interrupted by AJ's yell of excitement.  
"I did it, Harry, I was right, I found it, I am so good!!" He gave Harry his widest grin, his teeth the only bright spot in their oil-covered surroundings.  
AJ wanted to keep on talking, but paused as his look fell on Harry, whos expression made it clear that something really bad was going to happen.  
AJ would have probably prefered it if Harry had started to yell and shout at him, but what came next almost made AJ's blood freeze.  
"Who do you think you are?", asked Harry in a cold controlled voice not showing any emotion. The grin immidatly dropped from his face and probably landed somewhere in Australia.  
He opened his mouth to answer something, but shut it again a moment later...Harry was not done yet.  
"What do you think you were doing?" He continued with the same voice, which gave AJ goosebumps.  
"I closed this derrick for a reason, you understand? I had a reason. I closed it and you do not have any right to keep drilling, if I closed it, that's why I am the boss. Somebody could have been killed today and that you found oil was sheer luck, that does't make you good, you understand? Sheer luck!!" He stood up, whipping his sleeve over his face to remove some of the black substance, which had not very much effect since his sleeve was as dirty as his face.  
He looked down at AJ.  
"That is why I am the boss, AJ, not you are, I am!"

THUK THUK THUK

The sudden noise made both of them jerk their head skywards. A helicopter was circling the oilrig, pretty close if not to say, too close. AJ wondered why he had not heard it before and figured that Harrys little speech must have made him blend out everything else.  
"Are you expecting someone?" AJ asked carfully but Harry had already turned and walked off the drilling derrick.  
"Okay, whatever!" He commented Harrys decision to ignore him and to himself he murmered: "It was luck, but I am good!"

Harry slowly made his way over to the helicopter landing platform. He crossed one of the many metal bridges, that connected the different parts of the oilrig. On the other side stood Rockhound, waving impatiently. The small man was bare chested and had a working helmet on his head, the hand that was not waving held the tail of a big fish, that was not quite dead.  
"Harry, AJ did it, yeah? Harry, I am fishing", he lifted the fish to prove his point as Harry walked past him.  
"You know what that means, Harry, I am fishing again."  
Harry had no idea what that meant, but he could not have cared less in the moment. Rockhound was probably the craziest man he had ever met, but he was one of the best geologists on the planet.  
He gave up trying to clean his face, he would have to take a long shower later, but first he had to deal with these unexpected visitors in the helicopters.  
It was not unusual that clients came to the rig, but it was definitly unusual, that he did not know about it.  
When he reached the platform Grace was waiting for him.  
"Do you know something about that?" he asked her.  
"No, but look at that", she pointed to the aircraft, that was now hovering over the platform. It had the blue symbol of the US Air Force on the door. "I don't think that is a client."  
"What happend, Harry?" a deep voice behind them asked.  
"I don't know, Bear, I have no idea what they want!"  
The man the voice belonged to stepped next to them to get a better look at the landing helicopter. The body of the man showed that the nickname truly fit. He was about half a foot taller than Harry, but must have weight twice as much. Like Rockhound he did not wear a shirt and the muscle of his upper body shone in the sun, where he got oil on them.  
The tool he hold looked like he got it straight out of the tool box of a giant, the wrench in his hand had the size of a baseball bat and probably weight about five times as much, but he lifted it without problems to let it rest on his shoulder.

As the helicopter finally hit the ground the whole crew of the oilrig was standing on the platform and watched the six marines climb out of the Sea Hawk followed by a high-ranked marine officer. Harry figured that he was an admiral.  
The man stepped forward and faced the whole crew.  
"Who is Harry Stamper?"  
Harry just shook his head.  
"And it's not even 9 o'clock.", he murmured and louder he said.  
"I am here."  
"We need to talk to you, in privacy."  
Harry led them to one of the few buildings next to the cabins. Once inside the man started to talk again.  
"I am Admiral Kelso, commander of the Pazific fleet. I am here on behalf of the Ministry of Defence and on a direct order of the President of the United States. This is a case of national safety. I have to take you with me in this helicopter. Please do not ask any questions and tell your men that you come with us by free will."  
Harry tried hard not to laugh as he listened to the admiral.  
"I am sorry to disappoint you, but I can't come with you. We just hit oil and there are many things I have to take care of...", he took a look out of the window to see AJ having a conversation with Bear, "...punishing one of my man is one of them."  
"I see, you do not understand the urgency of this case. I have to ask you again to come with me.", the admiral continued.  
"And I see that you don't understand what it means to be in charge of an oilrig. I am not leaving this platform unless the world is going to explode or something..., Harry snapped back and to his surprise a small smile crossed the admirals face.  
"That, Mr. Stamper, it not so far of the truth as you might think. If you come with us then, a helicopter is waiting."  
Harry was stunned for a moment.  
"Uhm...okay...", he finally said and before he could say anything else the admiral interrupted him.  
"Excellent, if you follow me then."

Outside again his gaze fell on Grace, who was still standing with the others on the landing platform, her dark long hair had been messed up by the wind from the rotorblades. She looked worried as she met his gaze.  
"I want my daughter to come with me.", he told the admiral. It was not a question. The admiral seemed to think about it for a while then said: "Okay."

"Is something wrong, Harry?" Grace asked as she sat down next to him in the chopper.  
"Actually I don't know myself."  
He leaned out of the door of the helicopter.  
"CHICK, YOU ARE IN CHARGE NOW!" he yelled to drown out the engine of the helicopter, "AND I AM NOT DONE WITH YOU, AJ, DON'T YOU THINK YOU ARE SAVE NOW!"  
The man called Chick nodded and AJ pretended not to have heard him as the Sea Hawk took off the ground.

* * *

10:04 pm Eastern Time, New York 

Otto Octavius struggled not to laugh and keep a straight face as he looked at the man in front of him.  
The actuators might be able to think for him, but they were not able to keep his body under control and so it happened that he found the story Dan Truman had just told him very amusing.

"So, you are telling me, that there is a giant meteor somewhere out in space that is racing towards earth and is gonna hit us in about 18 days and the impact is gonna kill every single human on the planet? You gotta be kiddin' me. Okay, I did believe you, when you told me, you're working for the NASA, but that is just too much, sorry!"

"Dr. Octavius, I am dead serious about this situation. This meteor is going to eliminate the human race if we don't do anything to stop it."  
The two men were sitting opposite each other in the back of the van. Otto shifted his weight for the umpteeth time to find a more comfortable position. The actuators on his back took most of the space of the small bench and he had to be careful not to slip and land on the floor.  
The lower two metal arms were curled around his feet, their claws closed. The upper two hovered in their ususal position over his shoulders.

"And why hasn't the media picked up on this story yet?" He could not surpress a smile.

"We discovered it two days ago, for the next eight days it can only be seen from nine telescopes can see it and we control eight of them. We work hard, that it stays a secret for the coming days."

Otto was still smiling as Truman pulled a folded paper from one of his pockets.

"If you don't believe me, you might want to take a look at this." He handed the paper Otto, who took it with one hand and gave it to one of the metal arms. He earned a confused look from Truman as the upper two actuators started to unfold the paper.

"What's that?"

"It is a picture the Hubble telescope took."

The actuators had finished unfolding the paper and one was now looking at it, while the other one hold it up.

**Father, what is that?  
We have not seen anything like it before.**

_Why should I know? Show it to me._

A second later Otto saw the visual input of the actuators camera and he wished he would have formulated his request more precise, because the picuture overlapped with his normal vision and he was taken aback for a moment, but the fact that he suddenly saw two images at the same did not startle im as much as that _what __he suddenly saw.  
__ You know, you could have just lowered it a little and I'd have seen it, too!_  


He could literally hear the actuators snicker in the back of his mind.

At first he thought it was a just a normal rock, but than realization kicked in and he knew what the object was.

It was huge, although there was no actual reference that one could say how big it really was, Otto just knew it was.

The object was a little bit longer than it was wide and its jagged surface represented every color Otto had ever seen, from pitch-black shadows thrown by pointy rocks over red, blue and green areas to several snow white spots that sparkled bright like water in the evening sun.

The object was surrounded by a foggy cloud that threw a haze of different colors over the dark background, it gave the whole image a hint of mystery. The beauty was overwhelming and was only surpassed by the danger that this object emitted.

After a few second Otto had already seen enough and withdrew the connection to the camera.

He let out a his breath.

"Holy shit..."

"Dr. Octavius?" Truman looked even more confused than he had already, if that was possible.

"Holy shit, is that the meteor?" He asked a puzzled Truman, who glanced at the mechanical arm that was still holding the paper.

"Uhm...yeah, how did you know?" 

"How big is this thing??" Otto asked ignoring the question of the other man.

"Almost a hundred billion cubic kilometres. The size of Texas!"

For a long time nobody said anything, then Otto broke the silence.  
"Damn, that is big."  
Truman smiled. "Yeah, it is."

"So, where are we heading?"  
"Houston, Texas"  
"And what am I supposed to do there?"  
"Help us solve the problem."  
Otto raised an eybrow.  
"Since when does the goverment ask criminals for help? Obviously the police doesn't know what you are doing, otherwise you would not sit alone in the back of a van with me and that leads my to the next question: Why are you not afraid?"  
"For the first question I think: Hard problems need hard measures. And for your second question, I could ask you the same."  
At this Otto could not help burst out laughing and did not manage to stay on the bench and fell on the floor of the van, holding his stomache.

Truman was not sure what to think about Dr. Octavius.

This man was a mysterium. When he first saw him with the vodka bottle in his hand he thought that Octavius was not in his right state of mind, but when he was talking to him just seconds ago he seemed perfectly sober and now?

Now the brilliant scientist lay on the floor of the van, laughing. Truman was more than just a little perplexed.

Was he drunk or was he not drunk?

And how did he knew what was on the photograph? He did not even look at it.

For the umpteenth time today Truman asked himself if he made the right decision to tell Octavius about the meteor, but then, who should he tell and who would believe him anyway. Everybody thought he was crazy, except a few people and Truman was not sure if he was one of them as he looked down at the laughing doctor.

"What is so funny?", he asked.

Octavius stopped laughing and looked up at him.

"What's so funny? You are funny!", he said as he pushed himself up in a sitting position on the floor.

"Why am I funny?"

Octavius really struggled not to laugh again as he said: "You do realize that I am probably the most dangerous man in the world, even now, that I am obviously not quite sober, I am probably even more dangerous. I could kill you any moment now and I don't even need a reason, and do you really thing these two laughing stocks with their toy guns in the front are gonna stop me if I really want to. You wouldn't even have time to scream!" He paused for a second and looked straight at Truman.

"And you ask me if I am afraid!" He continued with a cold voice and Truman felt cold sweat running down his spine.

He suddenly realized what he was actually doing. He was sitting in the back of a moving van with a wanted criminal with four mechanical arms attached to his back, alone, with the only protection sitting in the front of the van with two "toy guns" as Octavius had called them. That is probably one of the stupidiest things one can do.

He knew it would be dangerous as he disregarded General Falkins and flew to New York. Asking Octavius for help had been the only option or else the mission they planned would fail with a possibilty of a hundred percent. Even with him it was not certain that they would succeed, but they could at least try and that was better than doing nothing.

_Knowing is not everything, I guess..._

He felt a lump forming in his throut.

"Uh...I-...I just..", he stuttered, but stopped has he noticed that Octavius was grinning.

"Got you there for a moment, right?" He pushed himself up and sat on the bench again.

"W-what?" Truman asked in disbelieve.

"I got you!" Octavius repeated. "You actually thought I'd kill you, right?"

"Uhm...well." Truman did not know what to say and he swallowed hard. He had actually thought, that he was going to die this night.

"Do you really think, I just kill people randomly?" He asked, his tone was serious.

"I- I don't know!"

Octavius leanded his head back and starred at the roof.

"I won't hurt nor will I kill you. You know, most people don't dare facing me without pointing several guns at me. "

He took off his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes.

"Vodka does't become me!" He sighed.

Truman raised an eyebrow.

"I should try whisky the next time!"


	3. The Good, the Bad and the meteor!

**Hi there, I know it took a while. I wanted it uploaded over a week ago, but my trip to Rome made things a little compicated and I had less time then I thought. I apologize! Next one will be up sooner!  
**

* * *

A conference room in the space centre, Houston, Texas

"What about a big solar sail?"

"How do you want to get a big solar sail into space?"

"I don't know, a space shuttle maybe?"

"And where do you want to get a solar sail from in the first place?"

"This is the NASA; I think they should have stuff like that!"

Voices. Too loud. Uh... headache. Need them to be quiet.

Let us silent them, father.  
We could make them quiet.  
Let us do it.  
We can help you, father.

No...  
I can deal with them...

Office of the General

General Falkins was not a very patient man. He did not like to wait and for the umpteenth time he glanced at the big wall clock. The light in the room was dimmed, but he could still make out what time it was and he did not like it. Barely two minutes had past since he had checked the last time. His fingers tapped to the rhythm of the second hand on the wooden desk. He was waiting for over an hour now, but the man he was waiting for had not bothered to show up and it was driving him mad. He did not like to wait.  
It knocked on the door. _Finally_.  
Falkins leaned back in his armchair and stopped tapping his fingers.  
"Yes?" He said in a calm voice, although he was boiling on the inside and ready to explode, but he would not have become a General, if he had not learned to control his temper.  
The door opened and the head of a small woman became visible.  
"Mr. Truman is here, Sir." the woman said.  
"Send him in!"  
The head of the woman disappeared and Dan Truman stepped into the room. He closed the door behind him.  
"Take a seat." Falkins offered firmly.  
"I rather stand" Truman said, stepping closer with his hands behind his back. "And you don't have to be so polite. I know you want to yell at me."  
For a moment a smile crossed Falkins features, but it was gone as fast as it has appeared.  
"You underestimate me, Truman. I want to do a lot more than just to yell at you." He leaned forward, looking straight at Truman. He struggled to keep is voice low, he wanted to yell at the man, but this was neither the right place nor the right time.  
"You disobeyed a direct order; you know what consequences that has."  
"I did what I thought was right." Truman said calmly.  
"Huh, racing to New York with two helicopters and a plane and looking for a wanted criminal is what you think is the right thing to do in such a situation?" Truman's calmness infuriated him even more and he was not able to keep is voice down.  
"Yes!"  
Falkins inhaled deeply and let out a loud sigh. This man was not worth getting upset and he had to think of his blood pressure, he was not the youngest anymore and he did not want to cause the heart attack of his doctor during his next visit, when he sees that the data had become even worse.  
He managed to bring a smile to his lips and said as calm as he could: "Well, I assume you didn't find him." For Falkins the conversation has just ended and he beckoned Truman to leave but the other man did not move.  
"Is there something else?" He asked and he already felt the blood rise to his head again.  
Truman shifted his weight with unease from one leg to the other.  
"Well, I – uhm...", it was obvious he did not want to say the next words, "I found him and I brought him here!" Now that the words were out of his mouth he visible stiffened.  
For several moments the ticking of the wall clock could be heard then the silence was interrupted.  
"You did WHAT?" Falkins yelled as he jumped up.

Truman knew this had to come. He was prepared to face the anger of the General and so he just closed his eyes as Falkins continued to yell and tried to blend everything out.  
"You brought a very dangerous man into a federal institution. What did you think? He is a wanted criminal. I want you to tell me immediately where he is so we can arrest him and take him into custody."  
Truman opened his eyes and looked in the face of the General, which could now be easily mistaken for a tomato.  
"No!"  
Truman watched not without pleasure that Falkins was shaking with rage.  
"Listen!" The General pointed a finger in Truman's face, but he stood unimpressed.  
"No, you listen!" Truman interrupted Falkins. "You will not arrest him. Maybe I did not make myself clear, but he is the only one who can help us. There is a huge meteor racing towards us!" He made a rapid movement and pointed to the ceiling. All the weariness suddenly fell off and his body was bursting with new energy.  
"It is going to hit us in about 17 days and we need somebody to control the armadillo so we can drill a hole in this gigantic thing and blow it up."  
Falkins looked a little dumbstruck at Truman, it was obvious that he was not used to situations where the other one is shouting and not him.  
"Octavius invented the AI, he is the expert, if not him than nobody can control it."  
"He is a wanted criminal, I am not going to tolerate him in the space centre, there has to be another solution!"  
"There is not! The armadillo attacked three men yesterday, as they were trying to readjust some parts...one is still in coma." With that Truman turned on his heels and stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut in the process and leaving a perplexed General behind.

Outside the space centre

Harry was relieved as the helicopter made contact with the asphalt of the airstrip. After having changed from the first helicopter to a small airplane and then back to another helicopter and being airborne for half an eternity according to Harry's sense of time he felt slightly sick and had the strong urge to kiss the ground as he awkwardly climbed out of the shopper with Grace right behind him.  
"Oh thank God!" He let out his breath as his feet touched the ground.  
"What's wrong with you? You didn't mind flying before." Grace asked a little concerned.  
"I don't mind flying; I can deal with 3-4 hours. I even could handle the eight hours to Europe but we have been off the ground for like 15 hours or what?"  
"16 hours and 15 minutes to be precise." A deep voice suddenly said.  
"What?" He looked around and was caught by surprised as he found a man standing right beside him.  
"You were in the air for exactly 16 hours and 15 minutes."  
"Nice to know", Harry eyed the man curiously. He wore a grey suit with a white shirt and the tie slightly out of place as if he had tried to fix it real quick but had not quite succeeded.  
He smiled but his grey eyes looked worried and showed that he had not slept in days.  
"I hope you are the one in charge here." Harry crossed his arms in front of his chest. "'Cause I really want to complain about the crappy treatment."  
"I apologize for the circumstances of your journey."  
"I don't want apologies, I want an explanation! Why are we here?" Harry snapped.  
"I can understand that." The other man said calmly. "but before we go inside and I explain, I want to introduce myself. I am Dan Truman and as you already guessed, I am in charge here."  
"Whatever you say!"  
"Good!" Truman beckoned to follow him and started walking to the nearest building.  
Harry used the time as they walked in silence to look around.  
There were several different buildings that partially surrounded the airstrip. To their left was a large office building next to several buildings that seemed like they accommodated the workers and scientists of the space centre.  
Harry's gaze fell on the large hangar and the even larger air traffic control tower.  
"What are we doing here?"  
"A little patience, please." They entered through a side entrance and Harry could get a quick glance at the inside of the hangar through an open door before they climbed up the stairs and entered a room that looked like a small conference room to him.  
"Before I start you have to agree that you will not tell anything that you are about to hear anybody. Not your closest friends, not your family, not even your dog!"  
"I don't have a dog."  
"Uhm..." Truman blinked several times before he remembered what he wanted to say.  
"Well, you have to sign these contracts." He pulled two folded papers out of his inner pocket of his jacket along with two pens.  
"Why?" Grace suddenly asked. Harry whirled around and starred at his daughter. "Where did you come from?"  
"I've been here the whole time; you were just too busy to complain that you did not notice me."  
"Oh..." Harry still looked confused.  
"Sorry to interrupt your little conversation, but I am going to leave you alone for a little while, so you have time to read the contract. It's just an issue of formality, please sign them." With that he turned around and left the room.  
"Don't you think this is so exciting, Harry?" Grace gripped a pen and quickly signed the paper without reading it. "I wonder why they brought us here, but it must be something really big, since they have us sign these things." She looked up at her dad. "Aren't you going to sign it?"  
"I wanna read it before I sign; you never know what they put into such a contract. Maybe you just obligated yourself to help them to test their newest rocket, as a test pilot."  
"Come on, Harry, don't be such a killjoy."  
"How often do I have to tell you to call me Dad?" Harry said annoyed.  
"Read it and sign it. I am too excited to wait any longer." Grace said and waved her pen in front of his face impatiently.  
"Alright!" He snatched the pen from her hand and started to read the paper quickly. When he was done he sighed and said: "Looks fine to me!" He signed it and glanced at his daughter. "Satisfied?"  
"Yes!" She grinned.

In the room next door.

Diego de Neravario let out a contemptuous hiss and stared angrily at the man in front of him.  
They were in this room for almost two hours and they had been arguing since this man woke up. The other two scientists had been no problem to persuade that he was the boss here, they were little fish compared to him, but this man was getting on his nerves since the first word came out of his mouth.  
"Why do you always have to say something against my ideas? We are supposed to be a team, we should work together!"  
"Your ideas are crap!" The man said simply, he did not even look at De Neravario. He just sat there and rubbed his temples and De Neravario could not stand it anymore. This man was the complete opposite of him and he wondered how the NASA could hire somebody like him. The messy appearance of the man grossed De Neravario out and he unintentionally stroke over his slick black hair that was combed back and hold in place by a huge amount of gel.  
He let out his breath to get his temper back under control. He had one idea left and was not going to give up.  
"Okay, another idea. Why don't we just blow it up? Send a few atomic bombs up there and it's gone."  
He heard the other man chuckle and his body suddenly shock with rage.  
"This meteor has the size of Texas; it's going to do much damage even if we launch the complete atomic arsenal of the United States at that thing."  
De Neravario crossed his arms in front of his chest.  
"Well, if you think my ideas are crap, why don't you suggest something yourself." He said annoyed. "Always complaining but never saying anything useful. Oh wait; you have a headache, right? So you can't think." He said full of pity.  
"Right." Either the man had not noticed the undertone of De Neravario's voice or he ignored it, but he continued to rub his temples.  
De Neravario stepped forward and hit the table hard with his right hand right in front of the man.  
"You -!" He growled but was interrupted by one of the other scientists who stood completely forgotten on the other side of the room and on the other end of the table.  
"Uhm...We have an idea." One of them said timidly.  
De Neravario was about to growl at them as well when the other man, who he did not even know the name of what he just noticed, said: "Well, then tell us. Every idea is needed since our friend here", he gestured at De Neravario, "has no idea what he is talking about."  
He now looked up for the first time and grinned at De Neravario.  
"Well, uhm...we think the idea with the...uhm... atomic bomb ...uhm...is not so bad", the nervous scientist stuttered, "uhm...I mean, as you said, it is not going to do anything if we send up some missiles, but if we could get a big bomb _inside_ we should be able to blow it up...what do you think?" He looked expectantly at the man and so did De Neravario, who was hoping that the nervous scientist was going to get a snappish answer as well.  
After several seconds the man nodded and said: "I think that would work."  
That was the point were De Neravario exploded.  
"WHAT?? You turn every idea from me down and now this nervous wimp has one and you approve it? What's wrong with you?? I can't believe the NASA turned to somebody like you for help. Who are you anyway? Oh no wait...", he eyed him with acted curiosity, "I know who you are! You are freaky, little half wit, who can't think for himself and therefore has to comment everything that others say. I guess your life is stamped by misery and failure and you just can't handle it." He continued to tease the man and suddenly three different things happened at the same time. The gasping of the two scientists in the corner and the screaming that followed only seconds later was probably the least interesting of the three followed by the sudden call "Octavius, what are you doing?" from Truman who had just entered the room to see the last thing that occurred. After De Neravario had stopped teasing the man and started to enjoy watching the consequences of his little speech, four snakes like metal things appeared behind the man and before De Neravario could scream one already had closed its claws around his neck. De Neravario stared in horror at the man as he suddenly realized who that was.


	4. The voices in my head

**Sorry, I know this has taken me way too long... Blame my Writer's Block!! I hope the next chapter will be up sooner, I already started it, in case somebody cares...**

**Oh and I know, this is confusing, but it will work out in the end...I hope...**

* * *

Truman stared in shock at the scene in the conference room.

"Octavius, what are you doing?" He yelled at the man that was currently strangulating another man with one of his tentacles. Octavius looked at him and smiled. "Hello Truman."

Truman glanced at the two scared scientists in the corner and then back at Octavius and De Neravario. "What?"

"Oh, he was getting on my nerves." Octavius simply said. De Neravario was visibly struggling to get fresh air in his lungs and after a few attempts to say something he passed out due to the lack of oxygen. The two scientists gasped and moved a little farther in the corner.

Truman stiffened up.

"Is he dead?" He asked worried.

Octavius shock his head. "Nuh, just unconscious." He paused and looked disgusted at the man in his tentacle. "Unfortunately."

Truman relaxed a little and then remembered why he had come in the room in the first place.

"Uhm, did you find a solution?"

He watched Octavius getting up and stretching still holding the unconscious man.

"Don't look at me. They had the idea." He gestured at the scared men in the corner, who suddenly seemed to get to live again and pressed themselves even closer to the wall, if that was even possible.

"Tell him." Octavius ordered.

Truman still did not know what had been going on in this room during his absence. It apparently ended with two scared to death scientists in a corner and one unconscious in the tentacle of the doctor. He would have to talk to Octavius about that later, that was not part of their arrangement, but then again what was an arrangement with Doc Ock worth? He probably could call himself lucky he did not end up unconscious when he talked to the man.

He listened to the men as they told their idea and felt some of the suspense, which he had built up inside over the past few days, loosen. They had the same idea the other team of scientists had three days ago. That was going to make things a lot easier, he hoped.

He rubbed his hands and said a little excited: "That is great!"

He smiled at the men in the room and suddenly two frightened pair of eyes met his.

"Can we go now?" They glanced back at Octavius, who was still standing behind the table with his arms crossed.

A little irritated Truman stepped aside. "Sure." He said as they already hurried past him and out of the door.

He turned back to Octavius and noticed that the man was still holding the unconscious scientist.

"So, that's it?" Octavius asked.

Truman gave him a puzzled look. "What?"

"Aren't you going to say something, like... "He paused for a moment than continued with disguised voice " _Oh, this is not going to work_. Or:_ What a stupid idea_Or maybe: _Oh, we don't have the equipment to do that!_" He gestured wildly with his hands to undermine his points.

The look on his Truman's face first changed form just puzzled to total confusion and than to amusement.

"No, no, I am totally content with that idea." He smiled.

Octavius crossed his arms again. "Why?"

"Our scientist had that idea three days ago and we already agreed to use it. You were just the second group to confirm it." He still smiled and added. "To be sure, you know?"

Something told him that it had been a bad idea to tell him that as he suddenly heard a loud i _Bang /i _and a soft groan. Octavius had just dropped De Neravario.

"What?", he asked in a low voice.

"Then why did you bring me here, if you already knew you were going to blow up this friggin' meteor?"

Although Octavius did not raise his voice Truman could literally feel the rage boiling inside the man and the same fear he already had in the back of the van was now creeping up his spine. With now all four tentacles pointing at him he could not blame himself.

"Uhm...Well that's complicated, you know?" Truman managed to say.

"No, I don't know that's why I want you to explain it. Now!"

"I thought you would be easier to convince to help us with another problem if you worked on this problem first."

"You certainly blew this change, no matter what that other problem is."

Truman ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "Seems like it."

There was a long silence between them and it would have lasted even longer if De Neravario had not suddenly stirred and mumbled something not audible. Truman looked down to the man and watched in shock how one of the tentacles smacked De Neravario alongside the head and he fell silent again.

He looked up at Octavius and asked in disbelief: "Was that necessary?"

The other man smiled crookedly at him. "Yes."

Truman sighed and looked up at the ceiling as if he was expecting some help from above.

_Why me?_

He looked back at Octavius, who had tilted his head and was curiously watching him.

"What are you doing?" Truman asked.

"I'm waiting."

"For what?"

Octavius moved his head back to its normal position. "For _ you _ to start trying to convince _me _to help _you_ with the second problem, of course!" He pointed in turns at Truman and himself then crossed his arms again. "You're going to start trying to convince me, aren't you? If not, I'm gonna leave now!"

Truman breathed in and exhaled audible.

"Of course, if you would follow me then?" He turned to open the door. Octavius walked around the table, ignoring De Neravario. Truman faced Octavius and his gaze ran over the tentacles. "Uhm, can you ...uhm", he gestured at the tentacles, "hide them. You know, you're not supposed to be here."

Octavius raised an eyebrow but said nothing as the metal arms disappeared under his coat.

* * *

"Stop wandering around!", demanded Grace as she watched her father pace around the conference table. "You make me nervous!" She was still sitting at the table, she

"NERVOUS?!" Harry shouted. "I'll tell you what makes ME nervous!" He stopped on the other side of the table opposite Grace. "That guy!" In a jerkish movement he pointed to the door. "What was his name? Smith or something?"

"Truman." Grace rolled her eyes and sighed. She was already used to the outbursts of her father. Every time something does not work out like he had planed he flipped. It was annoying, but better than the endless pacing.

"Whatever! This guy, Truman, has us waiting for over an hour or something now." He clenched his fists in anger.

"10 minutes." Grace corrected him again, but Harry seemed not to have heard her.

He gestured wildly with his hands as he continued to blather.

"That's not "a little while" like he said. What is that guy doing and why do we have to wait here? I thought this was very "urgent". Why does he keep us waiting?"

Grace sighed again. She leaned backwards on her chair and balanced it on two legs.

"It's only been 10 minutes, Harry." She said again and at the sound of his name he finally listened. "What?" He asked a little perplex.

"It's only been 10 minutes, not an hour, ten minutes!" She told him a third time.

"Oh..." With the reason of his anger suddenly gone the rage disappeared too.

"I might have overestimated the time we were waiting...you know, I don't like waiting...and I'm not good at estimating times." He grinned at her and scratched the back of his head.

She rolled her eyes again and put one foot at the edge of the table, still balancing her chair casually. "I know."

* * *

Otto followed Truman through the long corridors of the space center. His headache had ebbed away as soon as he had silenced De Neravario, but he was still angry at Truman for not telling him the truth about the real reason why he was brought here. He wanted nothing more than to leave and go back to New York, although he was not sure what he would then do if he was back. It was not like he actually had a life.

Nevertheless he was still here. Otto could not tell why but something kept him here. A feeling he could not describe.

He did not care about the world. Why would he? There was nothing and nobody he actually cared about in this world. He had lost everything that was worth living for in that accident. His dream, a normal life, i Rosie /i ...

He had no reason to help saving the world; on the contrary, it would all be over. The suffering, the pain, the grief...

It surprised him how little he actually cared about other people. A year ago he would have done everything possible to help other people, he wanted to make a better world, but now...

They descended a stair and Truman led them into the hanger. Bigger and smaller airplanes where standing in rows with NASA technicians working on them. The hanger was huge, but Otto was barely paying attention, he was a little distracted.

**We want to see.  
Let us look, Father.**

_You can't look, now be quiet_.

**Why can't we look?  
There is so much too see.**

_I'll get into trouble if they recognize me._

**We didn't get into trouble when we silenced that man for you.  
Why would we get into trouble if we just look around?  
We don't understand. **

_That was something different._

**Why?**

"We're here!" Truman's voice suddenly interrupted Otto in his thoughts and brought him back to reality.

There were still in the hanger but were now in a part where no airplanes and machines stood. A large area around them had been cleared, it almost seemed like they wanted to separate something from the rest of the hanger.

Otto still had the same weird feeling he could not explain. It was like a soft tingle at the base of his neck. He unconsciously touched the spot where months ago the Inhibitor chip had been and it gave him a chill as he felt the cold metal spine beneath his fingers.

"We're here, Doctor."

Otto's head jerked upward and he gave Truman a puzzled look. They stood before large metal barriers that had been covered with black cloth to prevent anybody to look inside. A few meters away stood two soldiers with their weapons at the ready in front of what could have been an entrance. Otto gave them a quick glance and turned his attention back to Truman.

"I'm going to tell you the real reason, why I asked you to come. But please, don't rage."

Otto raised an eyebrow. "I'm able to control my emotions, Truman, I'm not the monster everybody thinks I am."

Truman swallowed hard. "De Neravario has probably a different opinion by now."

"De Neravario is an asshole and deserved it. Would you please explain now, I'm waiting." Otto said impatiently. The tingling in the back of his neck became more and more intense with every minute they stood there.

"Of course." Truman stiffened up. "I'll start at the beginning so might understand our intensions."

"Yeah, whatever." Otto let his gaze run over the black cloth and wondered what was behind it. The tentacles could have easily looked over the barriers, since it was only about three meters high, but in the current situation he would have to wait.

"One year ago, when you where still working on your fusion reactor, our request for money for a mars mission was approved and we started planning. The mission could not be manned of course. A journey to Mars takes three years even when Earth is closest to it. There is no way we could have possible fit the required food -"

"Yeah, yeah, get on with it, would you?"

"Of course, so we had to send a robot. A drilling expert had an idea for one and we changed it a little for our purpose. The only problem was how to control it. Usually the space probes are programmed to do just one or two thing. Taking pictures, scooping up some dirt, basic things our programmers could easily deal with, but this time we wanted it to be able to do more. We wanted detailed information about the composition of the surface. We wanted it to search for a convenient place to drill a hole and -"

"You're digressing. I don't care what that thing was supposed to do. Come to the point."

Otto's voice clearly represented that he was highly annoyed by Truman's tale.

"Uhm." Truman continued. "The point is that we wanted it to do complex movements and basically wanted it to think of its own. To much for a basic probe program, we needed something new. And that's where you come in."

Otto was already barely listening again, the feeling in the back of his neck was distracting him and he was sure the cause for it was behind that barriers.

"We used the basic program of the IA you invented and put it in the robot."

Truman paused and he rubbed his hands nervously.

It took a moment till the words sunk in, but as soon as Otto had realized them his pulse was up on 180 again.

"You did what?" He yelled in the other man's face. Truman backed up a little to get more space between them.

"Doctor Octavius, you must understand. We had every right to do so, well...maybe not everyone but...it was for the advancement of science. You, as scientist, have to understand that..."

Otto turned away from Truman and looked at the ceiling high above them. Of course he did not like what he had heard but what could he do against it? Nothing.

"And as a criminal, I can't even sue you." He sighed and turned back to the other man.

"So you stole my invention, great, you still didn't tell my way I'm here."

Truman stepped another half a meter backwards.

"Well, we now intended to use it to drill the hole in the meteor, but we had some problems controlling the robot after we activated the IA."

Otto's mouth fell open and he was not able to say a word.

"It won't listen to commands." Truman smiled abashed.

Otto's shoulders shook with rage. He had listened long enough to that guy, he decided; time to go back to New York. He turned around without saying a word and started to walk back the way they came.

Truman looked puzzled; he probably had expected something else. The first confusion wore off pretty fast and he leaped after the man.

"Doctor Octavius, I -", he did not get any further with his explanation, because Otto had suddenly turned around and grasped him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him closer. Close enough for Truman to see the reflection of his own eyes in Otto's sunglasses.

"You know, Truman", he hissed, " I have the strong desire to trash everything within my reach, but since I promised not to rage that will have to wait till I'm back in New York and then the Spider-freak has to take it. So when you watch the news and see he was killed by a crazed out Super Villain, it's your fault." He let go of Truman and walked a few meters, then turned around again. Truman was rubbing his neck.

"Oh and in case you wonder, I'm not so mad, because you took my invention, but because you are too _dumb_ to use it." He shook his head in disbelief. "How did you think I would be able to help you with that issue anyway? Why don't you just take it apart?" He turned around still shaking his head.

"There's no time taking it apart or building a new one. We need to use it as it is. And we thought you might be able to control it, since you already have a connection to an IA." Truman panted a little bit, not because of the rough handling but mainly because of excitement and nervousness.

Otto stopped dead in his tracks. What was that guy talking about? He could still feel the tingling but it was weaker than before. He touched the spot again. He was not sure what to think. It was probably possible, but he had never thought about connecting to another IA, mainly because he had never thought he would ever see another one. Due to his natural curiosity he was tempted to just turn around and give it a try, but the rage that was still boiling inside and his anger at Truman told him otherwise. But then again, Truman only did his job, maybe he was ordered to be the one, to talk to him.

_What do you think?_

**Another IA.  
We want to meet it.  
We did not know there could be others...  
... like us.**

He turned around eventually.

"Show it to me."

The relief on Truman's face was clearly written over his face. He hurried towards the entrance of the barriers and Otto followed him slowly. The soldiers let them pass without a word.

Inside the light was somber, because the barriers surrounding the area let little light from outside pass. Shadows were creeping along the edges of the barriers and one could barely make out the object that was positioned in the middle.

They slowly approached it and as they did it features became more and more clear.

"We call it Armadillo." Truman explained.

The tingling had now reached its peek and was now so strong it almost hurt.

The object really reminded Otto of an armadillo. It was a vehicle with four wheels and a cabin with space for two people. Otto slowly circled it and could make out several attachments to it that looked like folded arms that could extend and had different tools at the end.

The tingling was now hard to bear and Otto was rubbing the spot more and more intense.

"Something wrong?" Truman asked.

"No, just tell me what I'm supposed to do."

"Well..." Truman pulled a little object out of the pocket of his jacket. "It is turned off at the moment. We had some incidents with it, when we first started it."

"Incidents?" Otto asked.

"It attacked the technicians that were working on it. One is still in coma." Truman sighed.

"Oh, okay."

Truman turned to face him, he held out the object in his hands.

"That's the remote control for the power supply. Are you ready? It might attack us."

Otto chuckled. "And I think I might me able to defend myself."

"Uhm... yeah, of course. I'm going to turn it on in a moment and you try to connect with it...or something. I have no clue how that works."

"Neither do I, but you can turn it on." Otto gave Truman a crooked smile.

Truman nodded and pushed a little button on the remote.

The next moment the lights on the Armadillo turned on and a sudden pain emerged from the spot on Otto's neck where the tingling had been. The splitting headache made Otto wince, he squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his palms at his temples.

After several seconds the headache ebbed away a little and left Otto with a constant pounding right behind his temples. He sucked in the air and let it out in relief as the worst pain was over.

Truman looked concerned. "Are you okay?"

Otto opened his eyes again and looked at the man.

"I have a headache again, but besides that I'm fi-"

**_Hello._**

The sudden and unfamiliar voice in his head made Otto stumble backwards as if somebody had just punched him right into the face.

"What the h-?"

How was that possible? He looked up at the Armadillo and after the first shock wore off he relaxed a little.

"Now that was interesting." He met the gaze of a confused Truman and smiled.

"I think you can leave now." He said.

Truman glanced over to the Armadillo and then back to Otto.

"You got everything under control?" He asked concerned.

Otto nodded, his attention was already focused on the Armadillo again.

With a last glance back Truman made his way out of the fenced area and left Otto alone.

* * *

Truman hurried through the hangar, he had left the Stampers waiting in the conference room and he did not want them to wait any longer than they have to.

Five minutes later he opened the door to the room and found Grace Stamper sitting relaxed in a chair and her father walking impatiently around the room.

"Sorry, you had to wait." He stepped farther into the room and picked up the two papers that were lying on the table.

"As I see, you have signed the contract. Very good. I will now have you escort to your quarters. I am sure you are tired from the long journey."

Harry Stamper walked slowly around the table towards Truman.

"You're not gonna tell us, why we're here?" He asked impatiently.

"I'm afraid, that has to wait till tomorrow."

Truman heard the sound of a chair scratching over the floor and looked at Grace.

"Come on, Harry, I'm tired. Let's get some sleep." Harry, too, turned to Grace.

"I wanna know why we are here."

Grace stood up and walked to her father.

"Don't push the issue, Harry, I'm tired and I'm gonna get some sleep and you come with me."

She put her arm around his shoulder and pushed him out of the door and Harry was barely protesting. Truman watched as a soldier led them away to their room and then left the room too, making his way to his own quarter. He was finally getting his long desiderated sleep.

Everything was going fine, even better then he had expected. The first steps to saving the world have been taken and with a little luck everything would work out in the end. Just like he had planed.

Ten minutes later Truman opened the door to his room and fell on his bed. He did not even bother taking of his shoes. He fell asleep as soon as his head made contact with the pillow and a soft snoring could be heard only one minute later.


	5. Decisions are made

**Okay, this is now the fifth chapter and I know it's late and I won't make any promises about the next one it will come eventually, but I don't know when. anywho...that is not a reason why you don't review...I know some af you guys are actually reading this so, why is it so hard to click the little review button and type a few words. Gosh you can even flame me if you want, just don't expect a nice answer. **

* * *

Main hangar, Space Centre, Houston, Texas 9:05 am local time

It was like the first time when the mechanical arms spoke to him. In the hospital, he had been too drowsy to understand what it meant at that time. The result had been seven dead doctors and nurses. Not until later he had realized what they had done, because he had allowed it to happen.

But this time it was different. This time he knew who was talking. It has first startled him, of course, but he got used to the new voice in his head quite fast and he discovered that he could withdraw the connection whenever he wanted, not like the connection to the actuators.

_** Hello**_.

Otto stepped closer to the Armadillo. His head was still hurting but it was not like was not used to headaches.

_Hello_.

**_Who are you?_**

_My name is Otto Octavius_.

The lights on the Armadillo flashed up and the lateral mounted arms suddenly came to life. They had claws at the end and were now extending towards Otto. Although the robot did not seem to show any intention of attacking Otto, the tentacles rose automatically and placed themselves between their host and the armadillo.

"Watch it!" Otto hissed.

**_What are these things?_** The arms of the armadillo seemed to have cameras in the middle of the claws, another thing that the NASA had obviously copied from Otto. They were now turning slightly to the right, the equivalent of tilting one's head. They were eying the actuators curiously at least that was what Otto thought they were doing. He knew from the actuators that the AI's had developed curiosity and it appeared that the AI in this robot had gone through the same development.

**What is that thing?  
Where does that voice come from?  
What does that mean?  
Father?**

Otto sighed and closed his eyes, rubbing his temples. Why did things like that always happen to him? The armadillo had not moved and the tentacles and the robot continued to stare at each other.

He opened his eyes eventually.

"Okay, introduction time. Actuators, this is AI that was stolen from me and placed into this robot. Armadillo, these are the AIs from the actuators that are fused to my spine. So, there you go and now quit staring at each other."

**_Cute. _**

Otto raised an eyebrow. _Cute_ He had heard a lot of descriptions of the arms, but _cute_ was never an adjective that was used. The actuators seemed to be a little confused as well. _Why?_

**_They call you father, therefore they are your children and children are cute. At least that is what one of the workers said about his children. Is something wrong?_**

Otto was slightly startled, but smiled at that answer. He somehow sympathized with the Armadillo, he finally found someone who did not have any prejudices towards him and it felt good.

**Is something wrong?**

_No._

**_You want to sit down? I can tell you the whole story._**

Suddenly the door to the driver's cap opened. Otto hesitated for a moment, but then decided to give it a try and climbed into the cabin.

Truman woke up and felt wide awake. A glance at the alarm clock next to his bed told him that he had slept just about three hours. That might not be much for normal people in normal situations, but although Truman considered himself normal, this was certainly not a normal situation. He got up and troweled his jacket. It would have been a good idea to at least take of the jacket before he had lain down, but he had been too tired to think of that. He quickly combed his hair before he left his room to go to the Stampers.

He would have soon have to tell the same story he had told Octavius and although he disliked the thought of too many people knowing about the meteor it was absolutely necessary that they knew.

* * *

Arriving at Grace Stamper's quarter he took a deep breath before knocking.

"Come in!" came a happy call from inside and he stepped into the room. Grace was lying on her bed completely dressed and read a NASA brochure.

"Hello Mr. Truman, how are you? Did you sleep well?"

"Hello Miss Stamper. I am fine, thanks for asking, and I did sleep well."

"You look a lot better." She said and got up. "So? What are we doing today?"

Truman smiled at the enthusiasm of the young woman. "First we're going to wake up your father and then I will explain why we brought you here."

"Sounds good. Let';s go!" She hurried past him and out of the door. Truman looked after her before following her. Where did that woman get all the energy from? He shook his head and smiled. _I wish I had so much energy._

Waking up Grace had not been a problem, if she had slept at all. Waking Harry was something completely different.

Grace had already stormed his room when Truman arrived at the man's quarter.

"GET OFF ME!" he yelled and Grace rolled off of him.

"Get up, Sleepy head!" She laughed and jumped off the bed. Harry grasped his pillow and pressed it on his head. "Leave me alone." He grumbled.

"He doesn't want to get up." Grace said sulkily to Truman.

"Mr. Stamper, I need you to get up. We still have work to do and this is not the right time to sleep. I will explain everything to you, isn't that what you wanted." He grinned at Grace and she returned the smile. Harry groaned and threw the pillow away.

"Okay, okay, I get up, but would you please wait outside till I get dressed?"

"Of course, Harry." Grace said with a lovely smile on her face. "Everything you want."

Five minutes later Grace leaned casually against the wall next to Harry's door. The waiting in her room had been pure torture and she had been so glad when Truman had knocked and now she was waiting again. Her foot began tapping to a silent tune only existing in her head and she glanced over to Truman. He was standing on the opposite wall, waiting patiently. How can he be so calm? First he bugged them with the "Urgency of the issue" and now he did not seem to bother that her father needed an eternity to get dressed. He had been a lot faster when AJ had messed up the drilling derrick again. That brought her thoughts back to the others that were still on the oil rig, probably not almost bursting from excitement.

Grace could not take it any more and jerked around to face the door. She had already lifted her hand to knock again as suddenly the door opened and Harry stood in front of her.

"A little impatient, aren't we?" he teased her.

"You always dilly-dally!" She snapped back and folded her arms.

The next hours were not the most pleasant ones Truman ever had, but at least it did not end in a disaster. After talking to Octavius Truman figured that convincing Stamper would be a lot easier and Grace seemed to be on his side. He hoped she would help him if Harry rejected.

He started with explaining the whole situation to the Stampers before he asked if Harry would help saving the world.

Harry was going to play a major role in his plan. His job would be to train the astronauts that are supposed to fly up to the meteor how to drill a hole in it. He was the best man for the job. A drilling expert with over 30 years of experience. Of course there was still a small change he would not agree, but then Truman could still ask the second best man for the job, although that would cost a lot of time and time was the last thing they had.

Truman stood in the conference room and waited patiently. The two other people in the room sat in silence, they seemed to be in shock. Grace starred down on her folded hands in her lap and Harry tried to hypnotise the opposite wall, while he murmured something.

After several minutes Truman broke the silence and said:

"So, are you going to help?" He figured the fastest way to get him to agree was direct confrontation and after several seconds he knew he was right.

Harry's gaze shifted from the wall to Truman and he nodded. Truman smiled. Another obstacle was out of the way.

The first shock was soon over, but Harry was still not sure what his task was. Truman had explained it to him, but teaching somebody how to drill a hole was not a thing that could be accomplished in just over a week and when he saw the eight astronauts he could not help but laugh.

Grace stood a little aside and watched the scene her father just made. He gestured wildly with his hands while Truman begged him to think about it again. The eight astronauts stood in a semi circle around them. None of them was older than thirty and they were all rather good looking in Grace's opinion. They looked like they were not quite sure what to think about the conversation in front of them.

"It's impossible, I am sorry." Harry repeated for the umpteenth time. "I won't think about it, Truman, 'cause I know it is impossible."

Truman sighed. He was determined to not give up, but it did not look good for him nor did it look good for anybody else on this planet.

"Would you please think about that again?" He asked again.

"Oh, Shut up!" Harry shouted. "I would be able to think if you wouldn't ask me all the time!"

Harry's mood had gone through several swings during the last few minutes. First he was amused to see these amateurs walk up to him, then he remembered the importance of the issue and what he could loose, what everybody could loose, a few seconds ago he had been annoyed and now he was angry. Angry at Truman for asking him all the time, angry at the stupid astronauts for just standing there and angry at himself for not being able to help, but then an idea crossed his mind and he became calm again.

It might be impossible to teach these green horns how to drill but maybe they do not have to drill.

"It's just this one hole?" he asked Truman, who had been silent for the last minute. He nodded. "Nothing more. Just one hole. You think you can train them?"  
"No, that's impossible. I needed thirty years to become the expert I am now. I already drilled holes when some of these fellas were not even born."

Truman gave him a puzzled look. "Then what are you talking about?"

"I can drill the hole, with my men. You teach me how to get up there and I blow it up for you."; Truman opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by one of the astronauts before one single word could escape his mouth.

"We trained eight years for this one purpose."

Harry looked at him and was about to say something disapproving but Grace was faster.

"Harry, you can't do that!!" She hurried to his side and looked up at him with wide eyes and s now Truman was able to say something.

"That idea is not so bad, although it will be hard to accomplish."

The astronaut gasped."You agree with him? We trained eight years-"

" know!"; Truman interrupted him. "But complicated problems need complicated measures!!" He turned to Harry. "Are you sure you and your men will be able to go through the training?"

"But-" , came another concern from Grace but Harry gestured her to stop and laughed. "After drilling in the Alaskan Ice Desert with -4° F outside and a wind blowing with 120 mph nothing is hard enough to stop us. So, yeah!"

* * *

Truman walked along the wide corridor. He wanted to find Octavius but had no clue where the man was. Truman had looked in the hangar and the fenced area of the armadillo, but Octavius was nowhere to be found.

The solution he had worked out with Stamper was not the best he had imaged but with a little luck it would work. Harry was probably just calling his men and then they will be brought here so the medical examination and the training itself can start as soon as possible. The astronauts had not been pleased. Truman guessed they felt neglected, but he was not going to sent eight amateurs up. The team will be divided four/four. Four of Harry's men and Harry himself and four experienced astronauts plus two pilots. Ten people they had to rely on to save the world.

Truman did not want to think about it any longer. He had to find Octavius before something bad happened. He had a qualmish feeling in his stomach area as he turned around the next corner and almost collided with General Falkins.

Truman backed up a few steps. "What?" Behind Falkins were several soldiers, Truman could not make out how many. "What are you doing?" He asked in disbelief.

"We are going to arrest your friend, since you didn't send him back to New York." Falkins said with a grin on his face. He seemed to enjoy the situation.

"I gave you your chance and you disregarded a direct order, again! I should arrest you as well, but I will put mercy before justice mainly because you are doing a good job as the head of this operation."

Truman composed himself again and stepped forward.

"I told you already, you can't arrest him. He-"

Falkins pushed him aside hard and walked past him, the soldiers following him up close with their weapons at the ready..

"He is going to be arrested." Falkins shouted without turning around as he walked down the corridor.

Truman did not waste any time and followed him. Making his way past the soldiers he soon was on the same level with Falkins again.

"I won't allow you to arrest him. He is not only able to help us he also agreed to help us." Truman tried to pursue Falkins but he seemed determined. They turned around a corner and entered another corridor. On wall had now windows that allowed Truman to look down onto the activities down in the hangar. Falkins increased his pace and Truman knew why as he looked down the corridor again.

Falkins had spotted Octavius.

He was only about twenty meters away and he did not seem to have noticed Falkins and the soldiers. He had his hands in his pockets, his tentacles where no where under his coat. He looked through the window down in the hangar.

Truman tried one last time. "General Falkins, I beg you. Don't do it!"

Only ten meters.

Falkins gave him a quick look with an evil grin, then he fixed his gaze on Octavius again.  
"Now!" He shouted and on his command the soldiers surrounded Octavius in a perfect semi circle and aimed their weapons at him.

Now Octavius finally turned around. Truman was surprised to see him so perfectly calm, but he could not tell if that was a good or a bad sign.

Falkins stepped forward into the semi circle and faced Octavius, he still had the same grin on his face. Truman could feel how all the hope that had built up the last few hours slipped away as he watched Falkins.

"Doctor Otto Octavius, you are under arrest!"

* * *

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	6. Well, that was close

"Doctor Otto Octavius, you are arrested." Falkins said.  
Otto was not surprised, he knew this would have happened one time or another and now finally the moment had come. He looked at the general in front of him. The small, slightly overweight man stood determined with a smile of victory on his face in the middle of the circle the soldiers formed around them. Otto counted eight of them. All within the reach of the actuators, but with weapons at the ready. In his mind formed already a plan to take them down, but he did not move, yet.  
He noticed Truman standing outside the circle, a look of desperation written on the man's face. Otto could imagine how the man must feel at the moment, when all the hope you have is destroyed within the moment of split seconds, but he would not let that happen. It might have looked bad for him at the moment, but he had one thing on his side that the general did not know of.

The actuators under his coat tensed but he told them not to act yet. They would get their chance soon enough, he thought. Otto doubted this could be ended without a fight and he was prepared.  
As the seconds passed by and nobody made an intention to move Falkins said again:  
"You are under arrest, Octavius, did you hear me?"  
It was then when Otto let out a small chuckle and Falkins gave him a perplexed look for the instant of a few second then the moment of confusion was gone and anger took its place.  
"You think this is funny? You escaped the law long enough, you are going down today." Falkins hissed.  
"I don't think so." Otto smiled his voice calm. He stood perfectly still. "If you want to survive you will let me go."  
The look on Falkins face changed only slightly. His eyes narrowed and his skin started to become an unhealthy red. "If that was a threat I can only laugh. My men will shoot as soon as you only think about killing me."  
Otto chuckled again. "Oh, it's not me who's going to kill you. No. You will be responsible for your own death."  
"What are you talking about?" Falkins growled.  
Otto gestured at the ceiling with one hand. The sudden movement made the soldiers around them tense noticeable. They braced their grip on the weapons. "Don't tell me you already forgot."  
Otto could almost hear the grinding of the cogwheels in Falkins head and his smile became even bigger. Several more seconds passed and nothing happened. Nobody moved and the tension was almost unbearable. The soldiers shot each other confused glances.  
Truman who had not moved the whole time was slowly backing away from the circle.  
"You're digging your own grave, pal!"  
"That's enough!!" Falkins shouted. "NOW!"

Otto has made the experience that the world slows down when fighting. Actions that only take a few seconds seem to last minutes and hours, it was not different this time. Falkins mouth was warped into a grimace as he shouted at the soldiers, but at that time Otto had already taken action.  
One soldier keeled already over unconscious by a blow to the head when others overcame their shock at the sudden sight of the metal arms that shot out from under his coat.  
By the time the first gun was fired two more had lost their weapons and lay unconscious on the ground.  
One bullet drilled itself into the flesh of the man and he let out a scream. Two more reflected from the metal surface of the actuators and flew as ricochets through the hallway.  
One passed Falkins face so close he could feel the heat of the bullet. "STOP!!" He shouted desperately, but nobody was shooting anymore.

***

Truman kept holding his breath. The fight had only lasted a few seconds, but he felt like he had just watched two hours of an epic battle. Ever part of is body was stiff from the tension that was still controlling his muscles.  
He saw the three men on the floor; one was bleeding from an invisible wound. He stared at the crimson pool as it became bigger and bigger. He looked up at the four men still standing, weapons aimed at Octavius but nobody fired. Then his gaze shifted to the general. The same general that had been confident and determined to arrest the man in front of him, the same man who had failed miserably and now looked like somebody has just emptied a bucket full of ice water over his head.  
He could not see his face but something told Truman, there would be no second attempt. Then he finally dared looking at Octavius, who still stood at the very same spot where he had been before. Unharmed. Three tentacles arching around him, constantly moving, ready to deflect more bullets. The fourth tentacle however had wrapped itself around a soldier, its head now looming over the barely conscious man, giving him a crimson gloom; his uniform stained red where the bullet had made contact with human flesh.  
Octavius face flinty, he simply stood there, waiting.  
Truman finally let out his breath, as quiet as possible; he felt every noise breaking the silence could cause the situation to escalate.

***

Falkins stood there in shock. His mouth open, his eyes widened. He had thought eight would be enough. Eight would be sufficient. _I miscalculated....._ he thought. He watched how slowly a smile formed around Octavius' mouth. He stumbled backwards unable to keep his feet where they were. "No..."  
"Already giving up, General?" Falkins could not take that smile any longer; he made another step backwards and bumped against the wall. _How could this have happened? He was a general! Damn it! He should have known better. _ He pressed himself against the cold wall of the hallway still starring at the man in front of him.  
"It's your entire fault, General." The man grinned. Falkins watched how the unconscious man in one of the tentacles grip dropped to the floor. He did not move. He had seen a lot during the thirty-two years of his military career, things far worse than this but there was something about this situation he could not deal with. Was it the tentacled man, who still grinned his maniac smile at him, or were it the four unconscious and bloody man on the floor, that went down within seconds, because they followed a command he had given. Falkins did not know it. Maybe it was all of this together, maybe this was just the last drop of water that finally made the bucket overflow.  
Then he started running. He ran down the hallway, he didn't know the direction, he didn't want to know the direction. Away from this man. Away from this smile. He just could not have taken it any longer, he just had to get away from there. He ran down another hallway, almost bumping into two scientists that were having a rapid conversation about something he didn't understand. He was too fast away from them to catch even one word of it. He made it around the other corner and collapsed against the wall. His body was not used to that kind of strain anymore. His lungs were burning and his feet and knees threatened to give away under him, but at least he was far enough away now. He leaned his hot forehead against the cool stone of the wall trying to catch his breath again. _Oh God, why....?_

It was quite amusing to watch the plumb man moving so fast and Otto couldn't help but chuckle. He hadn't imagined it would end like this, but it was fine with him. One problem less to worry, that man wouldn't dare going anywhere near him again or send soldiers after him. His gaze wandered over the soldiers still standing around him. His expression became serious. They had their weapons clutched in their hands, shivering, probably wondering what he would do to them. He didn't want to look down to the unconscious men one the floor especially not to the one who took that bullet for him. He never wanted to hurt somebody again, but it had been inevitable. He looked in the frightened faces of the men. It was not their fault all of this had happened. It was not their fault a giant asteroid was racing towards earth, it was not their fault he was so angry, angry at that general, angry at Truman for bringing him here, angry at himself for letting Truman bring him here. He glared at them and he could feel the rage boil inside him. They were staring back if even possible more frightened than before. He could feel the actuators swaying through the air around him and he could hear their voices.  
**Let us attack!  
Let us kill!  
They wanted to hurt you!  
Let us kill them! **

_There were loud noises, somebody was screaming, a crash, then silence. His head was spinning and he could not remember were he was. His back was just one big pain and his head didn't feel much better either. He slowly pushed himself up, unable to open his eyes. He could feel the bandage around his head and then suddenly something removed it. _

Otto pushed back the memories that suddenly emerged from the corner of his mind, where he never wanted to look again. He shook his head and then yelled at the soldiers.  
"GET AWAY FROM HERE OR YOU END UP LIKE YOUR COMPANIONS!"  
It did not take long and the men disappeared around the next corner, the look of sheer horror probably still on their faces. Otto let out a sigh. No, he wouldn't let it get that far.

***  
The two men were now alone. Truman could still not believe what just happened before his eyes. Did he just really see General Falkins run away in panic? He decided not to waste any energy thinking about it. For now, more important things needed to be done. He took a few steps towards the other man. "Doctor Octavius?" The man did not look at him; he looked down at the ground and turned away. The tentacles slowly disappeared underneath his coat again. "Doctor?" Truman walked closer avoiding stepping over the men on the floor. "I- I'm sorry." Octavius didn't respond. "I'm sorry I couldn't prevent this. I tried to talk to Falkins, but he wouldn't listen. He probably did-" "No need to be sorry." Octavius suddenly turned around. "Uhm..." "I guess I'll be able to help, since the general hopefully doesn't have any intention of arresting me again." He walked past Truman and down the hallway. Still a little startled Truman followed him. "Uhm...okay." He did not know what else to say. They walked down the long corridors without any aim in mind. After several minutes Truman broke the silence. "Are you alright?"  
"I'm fine!" Came the cold reply and Truman was silent for several more minutes. He used the time to go trough his plan again. The plan that was supposed to save the world. The same plan that had already caused so much pain. He was not only thinking about the poor men they left in the hallway where the battle had taken place, but also of the men that had encountered the Armadillo and where now in the hospital station. Nothing of that ought to happen. Everything was supposed to be going smooth, but nothing ever did. At least he achieved what he wanted. Octavius was here to help, Stamper was going to help, not the way Truman wanted to, but he was helping, and last but not least Falkins was somewhat out of the way. He sighed.  
"Something wrong?" Octavius asked. Truman shook his head. "No actually everything's just like I wanted, the only flaw is that it didn't happen the way I wanted." He shrugged.  
"Mhm."  
Truman suddenly remembered what Octavius had implied during the battle. "So...how was your meeting with the Armadillo?" The other man didn't answer, he seemed like he was lost in thoughts. "Doctor?"  
"What?" Octavius gave him a puzzled look. "I asked how the meeting with the Armadillo was."  
"Oh, yeah... it was alright." He looked down the hallway again. They were still wandering the long corridors of the facility.  
"Were you able to...you know..._talk_ to it or whatever it was you were doing there?"  
"Her."  
"Pardon me?"  
"Talk to her." Octavius stopped and turned to Truman. "It's female and yes, I was able to talk to her." Truman's eyes widened in excitement and Octavius smiled.  
"What did she say?"

***

"YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"  
"I can do whatever I want!"  
"NO YOU CAN'T! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE!"  
"You'll be fine!"  
"NO!"  
Grace glared at Harry, hands on her hips, a bewailed expression on her face.  
"You can't leave me here..." she whispered, "You could die up there." Tears filled her eyes and Harry gestured her to sit down next to him on the bed. She did so and he put an arm around her. "Somebody needs to do the job, honey." He caressed her cheek with one hand and took hers in his other. Tears were now streaming down her face. "Please..." she begged.  
Harry sighed and looked down at his feet. "You could teach the astronauts, I know you can do that. It's not impossible."  
"Grace. Please. You know I can't do that, they will never be as good as I am and we need the best man for this job, just what Truman said."  
Grace sobbed, she was shivering under her father's arm and she knew he was right. She just did not want it to be right. She wanted her father with her, not up there.  
"I have to do it, Grace, please understand." She didn't want to understand. No. She pushed his arm away and stormed out of the room without saying another word. "Grace, please!" Harry reached out for her, but she was already gone.


	7. A close encounter

That awkward feeling came over him again as Otto walked into the hangar just a few steps behind Truman. That feeling you get when people stare at you, when you don't fit in, when you are not at all welcome somewhere. Nontheless Otto kept walking and again he was wondering why he was doing this. Helping Truman, he had no clue. Once they were done here, when the meteor has met his predicted end and exploded before the Zero line, they are going to arrest him. That fact Otto knew for sure, but what else was out there for him to do. He was still a wanted criminal, always on the run, always hiding, he would never be able to live a peaceful life, so maybe prison would not be that bad.

**What are you thinking, father?  
Prison is not a solution.  
They are going to hurt you.  
We don't want you to get hurt. **

They were approaching several soldiers and one man in civil clothed who was obviously not part of the NASA, since he stood several meters away from the soldiers and the look he eyed the soldiers with made clear he wanted nothing to do with them.

Why Truman wanted them to meet in the middle of the hangar was not quite clear to Otto, but he probably thought it gave him some advantages.

They reached the men and Truman greeted them, starting to introduce them to each other.

***

"Did you see that one officer?"

"Oh yes!"

"She was hot."

"Hotter than hot!"

"Stop it right there, AJ, you're most certainly not her type."

"You're always ruining the fun, Chick!" Huffed the man adressed as AJ and the man called Chick just smiled. "That's what I do, man, better get used to it."

"Come on, you just want her for yourself." A small man who went my the name Rockhound joked. "Right, Bear?" "Right, little man." The colossus of a man replied.

The four of them continued joking around as they made their way over the catwalk that strechted over the huge hangar of the NASA facility. They had just arrived minutes ago and where now on their way to their first training unit. They didn't know exactly why they were here, but they were told it would be fun and that Harry Stamper had ordered them to come, so they didn't reject, also the men that asked so nicely had guns.

Suddenly AJ caught a glimpse of a familiar figure standing several yards in front of them on catwalk. They all recognized the woman leaning on the rail starring down into the space. AJ jogged the last few meters and greeted her with a warm smile. "Hey girl, what's up?" She slowly turned around and AJ noticed the sad look on her face. Dark streaks of run down mascara were smeared over her cheeks.

"Grace?"

The others had now caught up and were now standing behind AJ. Grace turned away again. "I don't want to talk about it." AJ shot a glance to his friends but they were as confused as him and shruged their shoulders one after the other. AJ didn't understand women very well, but one thing he knew for sure is that when a woman says she doesn't want to talk then she certainly does want to talk, so he put a hand on her shoulder and gently turned her around looking her in the eyes. "Grace, you know you can tell us everything." Grace sighed and looked away. "No, AJ, I'm sorry. I just need to get my head clear and think for a while, alone." She smiled a wearily smile at him and pushed past him on the catwalk making her way back where the four men hat come from, leaving them worried and puzzled behind and AJ's women understanding skills back at zero.

But before they could wonder about what just happened two soldiers came running down the catwalk from the opposite site. A man and a woman. The woman had naturally all eight eyes on her the four men had noticed her and Grace and her problem was submerged into deeper parts of the men's brains.

"We've been looking for you. Where have you been. You were sceduled 10 minutes ago." The man stated and the woman continued. "Are you ready to rock'n'roll?"

The four men exchanged looks and they all thought the same thing. With her? Always.

***

Grace wandered through the long hallways, the tears from the conversation with her dad hours ago have long dried. She just wanted to be alone, just to think a little about everything. The whole situation was complicated and she just needed some private time and walking had made her tired.  
She continued walking through the almost empty corridors of the space center, workers hurrying past her occasionaly being the only other human life forms.  
After a while she stopped in front of a door. It was the door to one of the conference room, here she had met Dan Truman the first time.  
She opened the door, it was dark inside. Her hand slided along the wall next to the door searching the light switch.  
"Don't switch the light on!"  
Graces heart made a jump and she let out a small scream as she heard the deep voice from somewhere in the room. She had thought the room was empty.  
She squinted into the dark, the light from outside the room did not much to illuminate the room, the only thing she could see was the vage shape of a human being sitting at the end of the table.  
"Why?", she asked curiously.  
"I don't like light!", the figure answered.  
"Everybody likes light!", Grace said. _ Maybe a little conversation is just want I need._  
"I don't!"  
Grace stepped further in the room, closing the door. Her eyes were adjusting fast to the now pitch-black room and she still could make out the other person. He had not moved.  
"I am Grace!", she introduced herself, "and you?"  
"Otto."  
"So, what are you doing alone in a dark room?"  
"Thinking."  
"You don't speak much, do you?" She walked farther into the room, her hands searching for the back of a chair.  
She heard him smile amusedly.  
"No."  
She let herself fall into the chair, making it tip back a little. Although he did not speak very much it did not seem to bother him, that she had come into the room and disturbed his solitude.  
"Do you work here?"  
"I don't get paid, if you mean that."  
"Oh! Why that? Do you work on the ...uhm...meteor problem thingy?"  
"You could say that.", he chuckled, "And what about you? Do you work on the "meteor problem thingy"?"  
"No, I don't, but my father."  
"What's your fathers name?"  
"Harry Stamper", she answered a little perplexed about the sudden curiousity.  
"Do you know him?"  
"'Met him once. He is an ignorant and stubborn man. I don't like him, but he knows what he's doing"  
She fell silent for a moment. Thinking about loosing him brought the tears back to her eyes and it hurt her too much.  
"Okay!", she suddenly said, "I want to see you! Can I turn on the lights? Just for a little while?"  
He sighed.  
"Very well, do what you have to do"', he finally said after several moment, which seemed like an eternity to Grace.  
Happily she jumped off her chair and hurried to the light switch.  
Pressing it, she immidiatly squeezed her eyes shut, she had forgotten how bright a single lamp could be. After several blinking moments she turned around and faced the man on the other end of the table.  
"I know you!", she exclaimed. The man looked puzzled.  
He wore sunglasses, although he had been sitting in a completly dark room and his trenchcoat had probably seen better days. He also wore a shirt that had once been white and his brown hair was a mess. He seemed to be in his mid-fifties.  
He had turned the chair around to sit on it and his arms lay on the back of the chair.  
"I have seen you with Truman just this morning, in the hangar."  
"Oh.', was the only thing he said.  
She tilted her head slightly and eyed him.  
"What's bothering you?" She asked curiously.  
He sighed and didn't meet her eyes, he stared that blank table in front of him instead and stayed silent  
"Did I say anything wrong?", she asked a little concerned.  
"No, it's just....it's complicated, okay? I don't want to talk about it!"  
Grace leaned back in her chair looking at the man. He looked very sad how he just sat there and stared at the table. He obviously had a problem, but he did not want to tell her. It reminded her of herself. She had been in the same situation just a few hours ago, when AJ had asked her, although on second thought, she convinced herself, it was not _ exactly_ the same, therefore she decided that she could bother him a little more till he finally answered.  
It seemed like she was searching desperatly for something to distract her of her own problems and problems of others seemed to be the solution.  
She smiled.  
"Maybe I can help you!", she offered enthusiastic.  
"Nobody can help me!"  
"Maybe they haven't tried hard enough!" She would not except a No an an answer.  
"So, if you tell me your problem, I will try to help you!"  
Now he looked up at her.  
"If I tell you, you probably scream and run away in panic, tell your dad or Truman and I'm gonna be in trouble!'  
A little startled she opened her mouth and then the emancipated woman in her took control and she snapped:  
"What makes you say that?"  
She folded her arms in front of her chest and his face became even sader.  
"Everybody screams and runs!"  
"Truman didn't and nor did my Dad."  
"Your Dad has no idea."  
"But Truman does?", she contered.  
"uhm...yeah...", He said, a little taken aback.  
"But that doesn't matter."  
She opened her mouth again and closed it a moment later letting out a "hrmpf" sound, then a thought crossed her mind.  
"Try me!", she challenged him.  
He raised an eyebrow and thought about it for a moment.  
"Okay, I guess you will find out on you own, anyway."  
She smiled at him and slided her chair closer to the table, excited about what she was going to hear next.

***

Otto really did not want her to scream and run in panic, but that was what she was going to do after he told her who he really was. He did not want her to leave, she was nice, he wanted her to stay.  
If anybody else would had come into the room and started talking, he would have kicked him out immidatly, but not her. She was different somehow, he did not know why, but she was. He had liked her the moment she opened the door and gave that little scream when he surprised her.  
She was the total opposite of her father, whom he could not stand at all.  
She had that curiousity in her eyes that he hadn't seen in a lot of peoples eyes, that was another thing that spoke for her.  
He stood up and again he asked himself why he was doing it. That question seemed to cross his mind a lot in the last 24 hours. But this time he had the answer. There was hope. Hope that that girl might be different.

It was a small surprise scream that echoed through the large conference room, followed by a few seconds of looking in awe at the four metal arms that slowly rose from underneath his coat and then her eyes narrowed.  
"What are those things?" She asked eyeing the actuators doubtfully.  
Otto let out a sigh of relief. She didn't scream nor did she run... well, technically she did scream, but at least she didn't run. _I guess the hardest part is over. _  
Although he wondered why she didn't recognize him, even here in Texas people would know him. He had been all over the news, not only in New York.  
"Their were originally designed to assist me with my experiment, to obtain and maintain a fusion reaction. They can resist extreme heat and magnetism They were my lab assistants." Otto did not look at her instead his gaze was fixed on the floor.  
"And now? Why are you still wearing them? Why don't you take them off?" Grace asked in disbelief.  
He looked up. "They are fused to my spine."  
It was then when Otto's world was turned upside down and Grace started yelling.  
"What the Ffff...?!"  
This was not something he was used to. A look of confusion started spreading over Otto's face, he did not understand what was going on right now.  
"Why did you do that?"  
No, definitly not something he was used to. What was that girl talking about? She was yelling, she was yelling loud, and he did not know why.  
"Why would somebody do something like that to their body?"  
Not at all...used to. He stared blankly at the girl in front of him. His thoughts swirling and twirling about.  
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOU MIND?"  
Otto's brain was one fuzzy mess now, it didn't make sense. Grace stood there, angry, no not only angry, furious and enraged. Her fists clinched, she stared directly into his sunglasses covered eyes.  
And Otto, well, Otto stood there, mouth open, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to think and then suddenly his mind went into overdrive and his confusion was replaced by rage within a second.  
"What the fuck are you talking about?!" He shouted, stepping forward towards Grace in livid motion. "How can you possibly think I did this on purpose to me?!" He gestured about him and then pointed directly at Grace, now only three feet away from him. "You are the one out of your mind here." He snarled and with this he stormed out of the room, actuators quickly hiding under his coat. How could he have possibly thought....

Nobody ever alleged that he did this on purpose. Never.

***

Grace stood there, dumbstruck. But what else had she expected? She was breathing hard, trying to keep her shaking hand under control. She stared at the opposite wall, where a moment ago Otto had been standing, her mind racing. What had she done? How could she have possibly assumed...

She was close to hyperventilating and suddenly there was only one thing to do.

Grace spun on her heels and started running, dashing through the door of the conference she quickly looked around in the dimly lit hallway. He hadn't gone far yet and she started off in his direction.

"Listen... Otto...". She reached him several moments later and meant to put her hand on his shoulder but he spun around so fast she didn't even have a change to get her arm up and suddenly she was face to face with four red lights, pointing at her. The metal arms were hovering over Otto's shoulders, dangerously and menacingly. His face was blank, deep shadows concealing his features.  
"What?"  
The coldness of his voice let a cold shiver run down Grace spine. She shivered and her whole body was shaking. What had she done? Tears where forming in her eyes. She didn't mean this to happen. How could she be so mean, so cruel, to a person who she had just met, who she didn't even know. Who was she to judge him like that?  
Tears were forming in her eyes and suddenly everything came crushing down on her.  
The asteroid, that freaking asteroid, that was the cause of everything.  
Her father, who wants to fly up there, bringing himself in danger of his life, leaving her down here, alone and desperate.  
And now this. She gulped, not holding back the tears any longer, and she threw herself forward embracing the man in front of her in a hug, sobbing a frantic Sorry into his trench coat, not caring about the hard metal she felt on the mans back, not caring about the red lights inside the metal claws, not caring about anything, just sobbing, letting everything out, letting all the problems fade away and after a while she felt soft strokes on her back and she smiled.


End file.
